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Van den Bergh, Roger --- "The Economics of Competition Policy and the Draft of the Chinese" [2007] ELECD 239; in Eger, Thomas; Faure, Michael; Naigen, Zhang (eds), "Economic Analysis of Law in China" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2007)

Book Title: Economic Analysis of Law in China

Editor(s): Eger, Thomas; Faure, Michael; Naigen, Zhang

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847200365

Section: Chapter 4

Section Title: The Economics of Competition Policy and the Draft of the Chinese

Author(s): Van den Bergh, Roger

Number of pages: 35

Extract:

4. The economics of competition
policy and the draft of the Chinese
competition law
Roger Van den Bergh*

1. INTRODUCTION

Economic analysis has been extremely helpful in clarifying the goals of
competition policy and applying the rules of competition law in the daily
antitrust practice of both the United States of America (US) and the
European Community (EC). It may be expected that economic analysis will
play an equally important role in Chinese competition policy. Since the
draft of the anti-monopoly law1 contains an invitation for comments, this
chapter will try to summarize the main insights of the economic analysis of
competition law and contrast them with the text of the proposed Chinese
competition law. While taking up the invitation for comments, the goal of
this chapter remains modest. It is not the task of a European commenta-
tor to decide what the contents of the Chinese competition law should be.
This remains ultimately a political decision to be taken by the Chinese leg-
islator. However, sharing experiences about EC competition law, which
is gradually becoming more economics based, may provide important
information about the complexities inherent in developing a sound compe-
tition policy. It is hoped that this contribution will stimulate the debate in
China by illuminating the tensions between economic efficiency, fairness,
consumer welfare and other goals of competition policy. This may allow
the Chinese legislator, who will face the highly difficult task of accommo-
dating competing policy considerations, to make informed choices about
the competition rules, ...